Mobile phones and other handheld electronic devices have become indispensable—being utilized by everyone worldwide and existing in immeasurable numbers due to their practicality, increasing cost effectiveness and convenience of use. However, the use of cellular phones is not without inherent risks. For example, many individuals make and receive cellular calls while driving. This action necessarily requires the use of at least one hand to operate and/or hold the cellular phone, substantially increasing the risk of an automobile accident causing possible injury to oneself and others. In addition, overexposure to cellular radiation has become a recognized phenomenon warranting consumer concern.
Thus, a need has arisen for a means by which a cellular phone can be utilized in a “hands-free” manner. Hands-free is understood to mean the ability to transmit and receive audio signals through a cellular phone without the user having to manually hold the cellular phone. One development for cellular phones to address this issue is an integrated speakerphone function. The speakerphone function of cellular phones has become widely used, especially during walking, working or driving a car. The speakerphone function provides the safety of the user in using the phone, especially during driving. However, even with the speakerphone functions, there have been some limitations.
One of the main limitations with the speakerphone function is poor audio quality, especially when the phone is at a distance from the user. In a conventional speakerphone implementation, the main components include a phone cradle, a loudspeaker to broadcast audio signals from the phone and a microphone to receive audio signals (i.e. signal containing the user's voice). The use of the loudspeaker increases ambient noise due to additional feedback that is created in closed areas, particularly in automobiles where phones are commonly used. Even outside of a closed environment, ambient noise is a problem as open spaces create opportunities for many other different types of sounds to affect audio performance. Further, privacy concerns do not always allow the user to utilize the speakerphone function.
To overcome problems associated with speakers, earpiece(s) have been used in conjunction with phones to provide better quality audio reception. These earpieces may be used in conjunction with cell phone holders that hold the phone in place in an automobile or on a user. The earpiece(s) are typically connected to the phone with a cord that transmits the audio signals between the phone and the user's ear. Unfortunately, the earpiece and cord combination create a unique set of problems that bring further limitations.
One such problem is the placement of the earpiece when not in use. If the phone is not in a cradle while it is an automobile, the earpiece and phone may move around the interior and create a dangerous situation for one attempting to answer a call or otherwise use the phone and earpiece while driving. The phone and earpiece may not remain together in the automobile and therefore locating the phone and earpiece may create a distraction while driving. Another problem is that the cord becomes a distraction to a driver since the cord may become tangled or looped around other devices in the automobile. If this happens, problems will occur when a call arrives and the user tries to answer the incoming call when the earpiece cord becomes tangled. Yet another problem is the inconvenience caused by the length of the cable of the earpiece. Often, because the length of the cable must be long enough to reach from the waist of the user to their ear, the cable must be at least two or three feet in length. When not in use, this length of cable becomes a nuisance, often catching on protrusions and tearing the phone out of the user's pocket or the earpiece out of the user's ear. Thus, with current earpieces, considerable wrapping and tangling occurs with the cables. Many times an individual will lose or break the earpiece because there is no proper storage while it is not in use.
Although existing cable storage systems exist, they are often bulky and prone to entanglement of the cable during use. For example, one approach is the utilization of a reel around which the cable is wound when the cable is not in use. The spool includes a spring that is tensioned when the user pulls out the cable. Thereafter, the cable is rewound as the tension of the spring is released. However, such reel or spool systems are bulky and when implemented together with a protective case for the cell phone handset vastly increase the bulk of the device. Additionally existing systems lack a place to dock both ends of the earpiece, the speaker and the plug, as most cell phones in use today lack a convenient switch to turn the earpiece on or off, and thus require that it be unplugged. There is therefore a need to overcome the issues noted above.